2nd Sunday of Lent
Readings: Genesis 15:5-12,17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28b-36
On the Second Sunday of Lent, the church's liturgy always presents us with the story of Jesus' transfiguration. In the midst of the journey to the cross in Jerusalem, we, through the eyes of Peter, John and James, are given a glimpse of Jesus' ultimate glory as God's Son and are admonished to "listen" to his teaching. As we continue our Lenten journey, let us pray with faith the refrain of this Sunday's responsorial psalm: "The Lord is my light and my salvation" (Ps 27).
The Old Testament readings for this Lent recount the central stories of the history of salvation which lead up to the promise of the New Covenant. Last Sunday, we heard the retelling of the exodus from Egypt, and this week we recall the covenant with Abram/Abraham (Genesis 15).
This story highlights Abram's faith in God's promises of offspring and land, despite apparently insurmountable obstacles to their fulfillment. The first is the barrenness of Sarai, his wife (see Gen 11:30). In the lines immediately before our reading, Abram complains, "See you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir" (Gen 15:3). But the Lord promises Abram that his own issue will be his heir (15:4) and then says: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be" (15:5). Without further complaint, "Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness" (15:6). A second obstacle is that the Canaanites are occupying the land promised to Abram (see Gen 12:1-9). And so he asks, "O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" (15:7-8). This time the Lord gives instructions for the sealing of a solemn covenant which Abram dutifully performs. In ancient covenant ceremonies, contracting parties "cut a covenant" by splitting animals in two and passing between the halved parts to indicate that they were willing to be dismembered if they should fail to keep the covenant. In this case, the Lord, under the form of "a smoking brazier and a flaming torch," passes between the parted animals and binds himself with the oath: "To your descendants I give this land from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River."
The epistle reading from Philippians continues the theme of faithful trust in the future fulfillment of God's promises. Paul, while in prison and facing the prospect of death, asks the Philippians, who are tempted to put their trust in the bodily observances of Judaism, especially circumcision and dietary laws, to imitate him by trusting in the cross of Christ and the second "coming of our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." He reminds them that they have their "citizenship in heaven and are living in faith for the future when Christ "will give a new form to this lowly body of ours and remake it according to the pattern of his glorified body, by his power to subject everything to himself."
Luke's account of the Transfiguration is closely tied to the beginnings of Jesus' fateful journey to Jerusalem (see 9:22-62), and therefore he emphasizes his coming passion and resurrection. When Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the prophets, appear in glory with Jesus, they speak "of his exodus which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem." In Luke, Jesus, like the suffering prophets before him, has a destiny to go to Jerusalem to die and then be raised up (see Lk 13:31-35). At this point, Jesus' disciples cannot understand this mission, nor its implications for their lives. They will be instructed in the way of discipleship on the long journey to Jerusalem (9:55-19:27), but only with Jesus' resurrection will they begin to understand that according to the Law and the prophets "it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory" (see Lk 24:25-27, 44-49). Therefore, Peter, upon seeing the glory of Jesus, Moses and Elijah, wants to build "three booths" to honor them. We are informed, "He did not really know what he was saying."
When Jesus, Moses, and Elijah enter the cloud, God's voice speaks: "This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him." As they leave the mountain of the Transfiguration to begin the journey to Jerusalem, the disciples see only Jesus, but they have been told what to do. They are to listen to the Son and Chosen One as he teaches them about a life of service on the way to his cross and resurrection.
(This column originally published in The Providence Visitor)
